THE HOT BENCH WITH JEFFREY TOOBIN | DiFi Ready For a Fight | Expecting the Expected From Trump
November 17, 2016
THE HOT BENCH
|For our latest Hot Bench interview, we have none other than The New Yorker’s very own JEFFREY TOOBIN. We discussed everything from the presidential election, to the nomination of MERRICK GARLAND, to his favorite Supreme Court justice. When asked about potential reforms of the high court, Toobin noted, “I think certainly they should have at minimum live audio, and of course live video as well. You know, it’s preposterous that there are no cameras in that courtroom. But it’s even more preposterous that there is no live audio feed.” Read our full interview here.
REDEMPTION'S ON YOUR MIND
|Long-time political powerhouse SENATOR DIANNE FEINSTEIN is now the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee and she’s revved up and ready for a fight. In a statement released yesterday, the California senator said, “When President-elect Trump is willing to support responsible policies and nominees, I’ll hear him out, but this committee has a vital role to protect the Constitution and scrutinize policies, senior officials and judges very carefully, and that’s what we intend to do.”
WE'RE STILL HERE
|Feinstein also spoke of JUDGE MERRICK GARLAND in her statement yesterday, calling him a “moderate judge who should have been quickly confirmed.” Senator Feinstein: “After the unprecedented and disrespectful treatment [of Garland], the committee will pay very close attention to proposed nominees to ensure the fundamental constitutional rights of Americans are protected.”
YOU'RE THE TOP
|The “Fantasy SCOTUS” poll launched Tuesday has RAYMOND KETHLEDGE and WILLIAM PRYOR leading as predicted Supreme Court nominees under DONALD TRUMP. The survey correctly predicted the nomination of JUSTICE ELENA KAGAN in 2010, so let’s see how goes this time around.
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
|What can we expect of DONALD TRUMP’S Supreme Court picks? The expected. Noah Feldman writes in Bloomberg that no matter how the cookie crumbles, Trump will put a conservative on the bench – and a serious one at that. “Although it seems counterintuitive, Senate Republicans are going to constrain Trump’s choice almost as they would have constrained HILLARY CLINTON.”
TWOFER
|In The Wall Street Journal, Randy E. Barnett notes there are two questions the Trump administration should be asking of any potential judicial nominees under consideration. 1. Will they elevate precedent over the original meaning of the Constitution, thereby locking in a highly distorted reading of federal power? 2. Or will they insist on interpreting America’s founding document and its amendments as they were written?
OTHER NEWS
You Can't Shun a Supreme Court Justice
BloombergProfessor J. Stephen Clark of Albany Law School argued in The Hill that once Trump puts a new justice on the bench, that justice should be shunned. Literally. Stephen Carter is here to tell us why that’s not exactly a good game plan.
Don Willett's Quiet Revolution
Texas Observer“Social media’s most famous judge is at the forefront of a conservative legal movement that’s redefining what it means to be a judicial activist. And he’s on Donald Trump’s Supreme Court shortlist.”